The San Francisco Film Critics Circle gave Barry Jenkins’ MOONLIGHT their award for Best Picture of 2016.  MOONLIGHT won six awards overall, including nods for Barry Jenkins’ direction and adapted screenplay (tied with Kenneth Lonergan for MANCHESTER BY THE SEA), as well as Mahershala Ali’s quietly towering Supporting Actor performance, Joshua Laxton’s cinematography, and Joi McMillon and Nate Sanders’ editing.

Denis Villeneuve’s heady sci-fi film ARRIVAL won two awards, nabbing Best Adapted Screenplay for Eric Heisserer’s short story adaptation, and tying with MOONLIGHT in the Best Editing category. Chan-wook Park’s voluptuous con-person costume drama THE HANDMAIDEN was also given two awards, for Best Foreign Film and for Ryu Seong-hee’s gorgeous production design. Other awards winners included Mica Levi’s beautifully discordant score for JACKIE, Michael Dudok de Wit’s hand-drawn THE RED TURTLE for Best Animated Feature, and I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO, Raoul Peck’s expansive, in-his-own-words documentary about writer James Baldwin.

Finally, the SFFCC’s annual Special Citation Award for an under-appreciated independent film went to Anna Rose Holmer’s THE FITS, while the group’s Marlon Riggs Award for courage and innovation in the Bay Area film community went to Joshua Grannell.

2016 San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards

Best Picture
MOONLIGHT

Best Director
Barry Jenkins, MOONLIGHT

Best Actor
Denzel Washington, FENCES

Best Actress
Isabelle Huppert, ELLE

Best Supporting Actor
Mahershala Ali, MOONLIGHT

Best Supporting Actress
Viola Davis, FENCES

Best Screenplay, Original
MANCHESTER BY THE SEA, Kenneth Lonergan
MOONLIGHT, Barry Jenkins

Best Screenplay, Adapted
ARRIVAL, Eric Heisserer

Best Cinematography
MOONLIGHT, James Laxton

Best Production Design
THE HANDMAIDEN, Ryu Seong-hee

Best Original Score
JACKIE, Mica Levi

Best Film Editing
ARRIVAL, Joe Walker
MOONLIGHT, Nat Sanders and Joi McMillon

Best Animated Feature
THE RED TURTLE

Best Foreign Language Picture
THE HANDMAIDEN

Best Documentary
I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO

Marlon Riggs Award for courage & vision in the Bay Area film community
Joshua Grannell for his two decades of vital work in the Bay Area film community as a performer, programmer, producer, educator, and filmmaker; for making San Francisco an essential international destination for cult and underground film; and for creating jobs and safe spaces for queer artists and film fans.

Special Citation for under-appreciated independent cinema
THE FITS – Anna Rose Holmer’s feature debut, an enigmatic and nearly dialogue-free drama about a young tomboy who witnesses the older girls at her rec center experiencing unexplainable seizures.